Despite a flop in his octagon debut, Hector Lombard sees no reason to drop weight.

UFC president Dana White recommended the former Bellator champ move from middleweight to welterweight after UFC 149. But Lombard doesn’t think it’s necessary.

“I feel strong at 185 (pounds), the UFC middleweight wrote Monday on Twitter. “Just because I had a bad fight does not mean that I am going to drop to 170.”

After three tedious rounds, Lombard (31-3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) lost a split decision to Tim Boetsch (16-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in the co-main event of this past Saturday’s pay-per-view card, which took place at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was a steep departure from the finish-heavy performances of his tenure in Bellator.

The UFC president thought Lombard caught a case of the octagon jitters and recommended the move.

“Lombard maybe should fight at 170,” White said. “He made 185 easily. He’s short and wide, but I think he could make 170.”

Lombard was unavailable for comment. A rep on Monday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that he was headed to Thailand for the next two to three weeks to train.

Prior to this Saturday’s fight, Lombard hadn’t lost a fight in six years. Despite the fact he had fought mostly unranked competition in Bellator, he was one of the hottest prospects in the UFC’s middleweight division. A win over Boetsch might have earned him a shot at champ Anderson Silva.

Now, it appears he’s back to square one.

“It’s the unfortunate thing about hype: When there’s a lot of hype behind you and you don’t live up to the hype, it goes away real quick,” White said. “This is one of those things – the guy was on a 25-fight win streak, a lot of people were high on him, people have been talking about him forever. Guys that fight in other organizations end up in top-10 rankings, and it’s a whole other world over here.”

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